When you’re growing kiwifruit and the bees in the hives you’ve brought onto your land to pollinate the fruit end up producing more honey than you can handle what do you do? Well in the case of David and Julie Hayes you turn it into a world class export business of course!
David Hayes is no ordinary orchardist. In fact he is highly regarded in the industry and he and wife Julie own, or lease around 14 hectares of green and gold kiwifruit in the Katikati area. They’re renowned as top producers of early fruit and valued trialists. So in 2005 when they decided to buy their own hives to pollinate their orchards it was always likely to turn into another opportunity for innovation, development and growth. And as Julie says, it sure did. “Bringing in bees to pollinate our orchards was one of our biggest expenses so we thought ‘let’s do it ourselves’. By 2015 their apiary business had grown to include 1200 hives and a MPI certified Honey extraction facility. It was at this time they decided to design and build a purpose built honey processing and packing facility, launch their own premium honey brand and begin exporting their product.
In 2016 BeeNZ exported their first shipment of New Zealand Manuka honey to China. Today BeeNZ export to over 13 countries worldwide including China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, USA and Mexico! They’re listed on the Deloittes Fast 50 and in 2018 took out the Best Emerging Business Award at the Export NZ Bay of Plenty Business Awards.
“It all happened really quickly really and we have been fortunate to gather a great team around usl. It’s a very exciting journey we are on and we’re loving it.”
Ingham Mora Director Rhonda Wisbey and team have partnered with David and Julie Hayes from the beginning and Julie says the partnership is a critical one that has added significant value to the BeeNZ journey of success.
“From our kiwifruit orcharding days to establishing our apiaries through to our honey processing and exporting we have worked with Rhonda and the team at Ingham Mora and it’s been a hugely valuable partnership. Rhonda’s a grower herself which is great as she really understood the kiwifruit industry, and us, from the beginning. We feel very fortunate to have this partnership with Ingham Mora.”
By Julie’s gauge the relationship with Rhonda and Ingham Mora translates into solid value and support.
“Because she has seen our growth from the start she understands our goals and aspirations. From business goals, financial planning and key metrics to tangibly supporting our 2018 entries into the Deloittes Fast 50 and the Export NZ Bay of Plenty Awards she’s helped us. Our relationship with Rhonda is really strong.”
BeeNZ are also tapping into the seminars and coaching services on offer at Ingham Mora. A key business focus as the business continues to grow is their people and BeeNZ places significant value on the up-skilling and development of their team.
“We are participating in some financial awareness training with Ingham Mora to help us focus and better understand the big picture around our business and our financials. Having that resource also available within the Ingham Mora offerings takes it from just being an accountancy firm to a fully immersed financial and business development partner for our business.”
Julie and David will tell you that BeeNZ was made to capture and symbolise both the importance of the honey bee and the pure New Zealand origin. Yet it’s also pretty clear that their secret to success lies in their ability to turn a problem into an opportunity and to find the right partners to drive their growth plans. Now that’s something to buzz about!
